Book Review of Kató Lomb’s Polyglot: How I Learn Languages and My Disagreements with the Renowned Polyglot
A couple months ago, I came across a very promising book written by a famous polyglot, Kató Lomb. She has learnt and worked in 16 languages throughout her life. Later in life, she became famous by sharing her experiences learning those languages and giving tips on mastering the process. I immediately ordered this book on Amazon and read it quickly. Here, I want to sum up a few interesting ideas that Lomb’s book offers and provide my comments on them.
Kató’s book is a valuable collection of well-reflected upon thoughts on what language is, why languages should be learnt, how language learning actually happens, and what is necessary to acquire a foreign language. Her book is full of practical advice on learning different aspects of a language, studying multiple languages simultaneously, and even becoming fluent in notoriously difficult languages, such as Japanese, Chinese, Russian, and Latin.
I have life-long relationships with several languages. I learned three languages, in addition to my native one, to a sufficient level in order to teach all three of them at a university level. I also studied two other languages, and my journey of learning more languages is far from being over. Often, I hear from different people, even language professionals, telling me that I have a special ability for languages. This comment always surprises me and occasionally frustrates me. Objectively speaking, my memory is below average. I do not have much musical ability, which in the realm of language learning, translates into an inability to mimic sounds well. Additionally, I have little patience and, consequently, want immediate results. In other words, I have less faculty for becoming fluent in languages than many other people. The insistence of me having a special talent for languages completely diminishes the sacrifice and tremendous efforts I have put into learning those languages.
I strongly believe that innate talent for learning languages is nothing more than a myth. Therefore, I was happy to find support of this view in Dr. Lombs’ book. She writes: “No one is ‘just’ good at languages. Success in language learning is determined by a simple equation: Invested Time + Interestedness = Result.” This idea was so important to her that she emphasized it in her Foreword to the Fourth Edition of her book: “This new edition has strengthened my conviction that self-assurance, motivation, and a good method play a much more important role than the vague concept of innate ability.”
A big part of Lomb’s book is devoted to explaining her own method of studying languages. Lombs’ method can be summarized in a few sentences. It requires “the average language learner” to study 10—12 hours a week. Next comes the necessary motivation of a learner who “should connect language learning with either work or leisure.” Finally, Lomb strongly believes in the value of reading books in one’s target language. There are several chapters in the book describing the importance of reading in the language learning process. She promotes active reading wherein a reader buys their own books so that they can annotate in them. Even beginners of a language should try not use dictionaries, but rather guess the meaning of words from context, which builds associations between words.
I do not want to question Dr. Lomb’s idea that the way to succeed in learning a foreign language often requires many hours of study on a regular basis. There is no question that motivation is essential for mastering a language and that reading enriches one’s vocabulary. What I do, however, want to challenge is the idea of applicability, or the lack thereof, of her method to the majority of language learners. I think that this method provides an overly idealistic approach to how people should study, however few are actually able to go through with it. I agree with Dr. Lomb that there is no innate ability for languages, but the method of learning a language through her method requires exceptional discipline, which is already an uncommon trait, usually the result of much training and unique experience. If I try to implement her method to learn a new language (such as Japanese, which I have been thinking to learn for some time now), I will undoubtedly fail. As a language professional, I still cannot see myself studying for many hours on my own every single week, reading tons of books without the help of a dictionary, and trying to figure our the meaning of each sentence without anything to start from. I applaud people who can do it and succeed, but sadly, I, and many others, are not one of them. However, I believe her method still can be useful if seriously modified.
Most people do not have 10-12 hours per week to dedicate to learning a language and even if they do, why should they sacrifice so much time, taking it from other important activities such family interaction, sports, watching movies, walking a dog, etc.? I am a big believer in wise and realistic time management. When I was writing my dissertation, I had very limited time to work on it because I had two side jobs in addition to my teaching at UC Berkeley. My plan was to write my dissertation for at least 30 minutes per day, sometimes even less, on a regular basis. The plan totally worked. I always say that for the amount of time I spent on my dissertation, my dissertation is absolutely brilliant.
Another problem with Lomb’s method is an over-emphasis on self-studies. Mastering a foreign language requires several years of consistent studies. It is hard to imagine an individual who is able to follow Lomb’s routine religiously for many years (unless that person is stuck on an inhabited island for many years, like Robinson Crusoe, or perhaps find themselves in the position of the Count of Monte Cristo who was imprisoned in Château d’If for 14 years). If we exclude such extraordinary calamities, it becomes clear learning a language on your own is a very isolating and unnecessarily painful journey. Language is meant to be learned with the help of language professionals and alongside other people. There is no single magic method of learning a language. It is always a combination of many different approaches and systems put in place by professionals. I took many language classes in the past in different parts of the world and plan on doing it in future. My next goal it to revive my Italian, and hopefully embark on the long journey of learning Japanese. I am planning to do both in a language classroom because the added motivation, structure, and professional help are indispensable to language learning.
*Those of you who are interested in reading Dr. Lomb’s book, click on the link below to order the book on Amazon.
Olga Sylvia, PhD